One cold morning in March, Bobby Hill was wakened by a sound he had not heard since last Fall, "Chirp, chirp, cheer-up." "That sounds just like a robin," he thought. He sat up in bed and looked out of the window. It was a cold, dark, stormy morning. Heavy clouds covered the sky. The North wind was blowing the snow hither and thither.

At Cloverfield Farm there were four horses-Dobbin and Bird, Dan and Daisy. Dan was getting old so he could not go fast or work hard any more. "We need another horse," said Farmer Hill one morning. "Mr. Ross has some for sale. I am going over to look at them to-day and perhaps I will buy one."